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The Best Striker in the World?
Published by Ian John on October 5, 2009
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It’s been alluded to, not least on Sky Sports yesterday, that Didier Drogba is perhaps the only challenger to Fernando Torres to be the rightful claimant as the best striker in the world.
Media hype? Or the truth?
Here are my contenders;
Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan) : Seemed to fall out of favour at Barcelona but on his day he is lethal, as United found to their cost in the European Cup final last May.
Fernando Torres (Liverpool) : Superb pace and attitude and has an incredible strike rate in the Premier League. First choice for Spain and the scorer of the winning goal in the Euro 2008 finals.
David Villa (Valencia) : Torres strike partner for Spain and another outstanding attacker with touch, vision and a fantastic goalscoring record at the Mestalla.
Didier Drogba (Chelsea) : Power, strength and pace. A real handful for any defender and has a huge overall contributory effect on the Chelsea team as a whole.
Nuno Gomez (Bayern Munich) : Nah! I’m just kidding!
Wayne Rooney (Man Utd) : Now playing in his preferred role he looks mean, hungry, strong and ready to score the goals United need to take them to the title.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona) : Languid player with great skill and ability on the ball, it will be interesting to see if he can produce the goods for Barcelona as he has for Inter. Could be a real contender if he has a great season and good world cup.
At the moment certainly, Gomez apart, that would be my top six (assuming we are classifying Messi and Ronaldo as wingers of course and conceding that the better days of the likes of Thierry Henry, Raul and Ronaldo are behind them). But I have problems in naming one striker clearly the best for each striker has their own weaknesses which I feel they need to address in order to fully claim that mantle as the greatest.
Eto’o spends far too much time with his bottom lip pouting about off the field issues and his personality has already seen him sold on by Barcelona. Drogba’s attitude is repugnant at times almost as much as his tendency to feign career ending injury should a pigeon fly past him. Ibrahimovic’s brilliance is marked by spells of woeful inconsistency at times, often in the same game. Rooney needs to prove he can score the goals over a season and keep his temper in check. Both Villa and Torres thrive at club level and international level because their teams are set up for them, however effective tactics can nullify both players, as has been proven, certainly in the case of Torres, over the past week.
So there’s a few who could rightfully claim the title as best striker in the world. I’m just not too sure yet who it actually is. However I think come the end of this season and next summers world cup, the debate should finally be over.
Image Courtesy of ***phes999*** at Flickr.com
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Naheem Charania on Thu, 8th Oct 2009 10:48 am
Usual suspects. Darren “Thierry Henry + 4 million” Bent perhaps this season I may cautiously add to that list! My hitmen of the season beyond the usuals:
1) Dzeko (Wolfsburg)
2) Grafite (Wolfsburg)
3) Di Natale (Udinese)
4) Milito (Inter,once back from injury)
5) Kanoute (Sevilla)
6) Niang (Marseille)
I remember Demba Ba and Ibisevic of Hoffenheim holding the Bundesliga hostage during their first year with an unheard of first half season goal total. Hopefully they’ll come back to form. Benzema just voiced his disgust with having to play with an apathetic Raul up front. Wow.